A mind-numbing ringing constantly echoed in and out within Alexia’s ears. The ground shook from buildings that collapsed, and even the light piercing through the clouds hit her dead on the back. Particles gathered around the girl, slowly being absorbed into her body. Their power started to grow as time went on and on. Even still, no amount of attacks were harming Mahdri. Teaming up with the other school so far happened to be fruitless.

That was until her eyes saw the blood dripping from Mahdri’s side. Along with Khinara, whose hair also glowed a faint luminescence. Chip damage… But, damage nonetheless! Alexia’s excitement began bubbling upwards, the extra sum of energy her body absorbed allowing her to stand up once more.

Khinara pulled out her knife, quickly stepping back to face Mahdri. Tossing up her knife up and down in their left hand while their right started to open up the pouch, revealing more knives.

“Good. So you can bleed. Well, let’s not keep the audience waiting…Princess.”

Mockingly, Khinara called out to Mahdri only for the Hindi girl to place their hand onto the stab wound. Flickering in and out, their aura faintly started to cover the wound, beginning to heal it. Mahdri put her complete focus on Khinara now, gifting their foe with the same smile.

“I see. If it isn’t the devil’s shadow. Finally, showing one’s self?”

“Well, I am here. But don’t go callin’ me that.”

A glimmer of light flashed by Mahdri’s eye, the sharp point of the knife only inches away from stabbing them. Blinking and one would miss the movement the princess performed, evading the dagger, only to block a second one with one of their golden arms. Yet another crack formed on impact.

“Sorry, but isn’t it the truth?”

“Truth? Well, not anymore.”

Khinara reached down with their right hand to swap out knives, only for their hand to be stopped by Mahdri, who now stood directly in front of them. Instinctively, Khinara tried to stab them with a knife in their left hand, but it too stopped by one of the four golden arms.

“No, but seriously. It’s a shame they graduated, But I’m thankful I'm facing you instead of them~.”

Mahdri gave a generous smile. Khinara, on the other hand, freaked out at the sudden grabs. Their eyes couldn’t keep up, despite them having the power to fight them now compared to last year, they just couldn’t react in time. Doubt would not be their undoing this year — Khinara’s eyes closed and their entire body rapidly turned into black ooze melting away from Mahdri’s grasps.

“...Oooh~! I forgot you did that. Always hiding, huh? That’s fine too.”

Mahdri stepped back from the black ooze pooling on the ground. Yet, their hands raised up slightly, indicating a more defensive stance. The city became quiet. No longer were the buildings crumbling on the spot, nor the ground rupturing — An eerie quiet loomed over the fighters.

Khinara materialized, rising up from Mahdri’s own shadow, a knife stabbing deep into one of the golden arms, completely shattering it! Just as quickly as they appeared, they morphed into black ooze once more before one of the other arms could swat her. Golden pieces collapsed to the ground. Mahdri picked up one of the pieces of their now destroyed arm. Only three golden arms remained. Ordinarily, one would be outraged that their own power started to wane or their defenses were being broken. This was not the case for Mahdri. Their face, as they tampered with the broken piece of the arm, was that of excitement. An eerie smile mixed with such an emotion slowly brought up more power within them. The concentric circle hoisted behind them radiated with the energy of the sun. The intensity burned away at their shadow, forcing the same black ooze into retreating away to a nearby shadow where Khinara manifested once more.

Khinara dusted off their arms, burn marks visible on their clothing. The knife in their left hand appeared to be bent and burning hot to the point they tossed it at Mahdri. Of course, the obvious occurred and one of Mahdri’s remaining golden arms swatted it away.

“Found ya~.”

This was going from bad to worst… Such thoughts collected into Khinara’s head, their right hand tapping gently against their pockets. Perhaps waiting for the others to lay their hands upon Mahdri was a bad idea. They weren’t even struggling yet, despite them chipping away an arm, it wasn’t them on the defensive; it was Khinara.

“G-Great… Just my luck.”

Pulling out another knife, Khinara braced for the fight ahead. The back of her mind wondered if the other two would awaken, and if not. This match was already decided then. Mahdri approached Khinara with the same eerie smile on their face, only this time their arms were out and open as if expecting a hug.

“Come, Come~. Let’s see you break the remaining three!”

“You giving me an invitation? Just stand there and let me hit you then.”

“That’s no fun. Where’s the struggle, hm? The other two can’t really do much to me. But I see all three of you collectively have slowly damaged the divine.”

One of the golden arms started to flex, showing off its visible cracks, Mahdri infatuated by the display even if it was an arm summoned by the gods within her. Both fighters' ears started to ring, however, at the sound of something spinning. Lei’s diabolo spun out, hitting the flexing golden arm and shattering it in half, the toy itself continuing to spin until an invisible string pulled it back, aiming at Mahdri again.

Two golden arms remained.

Mahdri ducked, avoiding the diabolo, turning their attention towards the right down the street. Lei and Alexia both were there standing, Lei bleeding from their head, managing to catch their weapon, while Alexia still tried to muster up the energy to continue.

“They survived! Now, ain't that som-”

The sudden appearance of dozens of knives cut their words short. One — Two — Three, Four! Block for block, Mahdri counted the actual knives being thrown her way, the rest, illusions. Four blades dug into one of their golden arms, cracking it even further until the arm shattered into bits.

Mahdri’s aura flickered on and off. She immediately clutched her chest, appearing in pain. Khinara, Lei, and Alexia noted this, even when they sensed her power as it drained upon the arm shattering.

One golden arm remained.

This was the chance they needed to bring Mahdri down to their level. Lei turned to look at Alexia, suddenly placing their hands on their shoulder. The girl slowly concentrated, only to speak a few seconds after.

“Try not to f-freak out. I’m going to do you a favor. We might be able to get rid of that monster and settle things between the three of us.”

“What exactly are you doing?”

“I’m going to lend you some… Well… Fate? It’s complicated, but just a fraction so you don’t go collapsing on us…. I’m keeping the rest to myself… I don’t think I can withstand those hits anymore.”

“So you don’t collapse too? Yeah, well, whatever it is, I think I have an idea to shatter the last one. Unless Ms.Shadows over there can do it.”

Black ooze wrapped around Alexia’s leg from their shadow, a small face morphing from it, Khinara’s face. Their eyes locked on Lei and Alexia.

“Well, whatever your plan is, I’m all ears myself… I can distract them for… Three minutes only. That’s all you two will get.”

Khinara’s face began to fade away in the black ooze until Alexia halted it with stardust particles emitting around their leg.

“Wait! It needs something else other than your distraction!”

Mahdri continued to clutch their chest, overtime steam extruded from their pores around the shoulders and her natural arms. Scattered across the street lay the remains of gold. Each piece shook and glowed a vibrant crimson. Over time, these golden pieces surge into the air, and the concentric circle on her back slackened its light, returning Mahdri’s shadow.

Black ooze swiftly uplifted from her shadow, and Khinara’s arm formed with a knife ready to strike the final arm. The blade made contact, digging deep into the golden arm. That was odd? Khinara thought to herself, Mahdri didn’t even try to defend, nor attempt at intercepting. The ooze quickly retracted upon the Golden Arm, shattering instantaneously.

Khinara backed up to a half-broken building with a bit of a roof that formed over the ends of the street, the shadows concealing her entire body. All the golden pieces melted around Mahdri, shifting their color from gold to crimson, the liquid wrapped around Mahdri’s feet rapidly moving up her body and sinking deep into her skin.

“Ha… Haa… AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!”

Mahdri bellowed in apparent agony, their usual orange aura manifesting around their body only to mix with the coloration of crimson, her skin turned red like a demon, the power seeping off her body kicking up the winds pushing Khinara up against a wall unable to move. The light from Mahdri’s aura knocked away any shadows that covered Khinara. Down the street, Alexia and Lei stood their ground momentarily. Try as one might, the wind wasn’t what was pushing these two. It was that unearthly scream. Alexia felt her legs weaken only seconds later as both she and Lei flung off even further down the street with the two together being pushed into a pile of rubble.

Throughout this process, the ground vibrated only to begin settling down when Mahdri’s aura started fading, only to fade away. Khinara collapsed to the ground, slowly picking herself up. Her eyes sat upon Mahdri in their demonic state of being.

“A-Ah… Well… This is bad…”

Khinara took a stand, this time elevating the surrounding shadows to morph into tendrils that acted in defense. Mahdri stood there unmoving, and eyes closed. Now a warrior clad in golden armor while plated in red skin. This new form of her’s brings up unwanted memories for Khinara from last year. This might be an onslaught. Finally, Mahdri opened their eyes, their iris shined gold, glaring into the shadow warrior. The only thing she’d say would be.

“[Mangala] … “